# Does client verification require host based certificates?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-client-verification-require-host-based-certificates/230243>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [April 28, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-client-verification-require-host-based-certificates/230243 "2020-04-28T19:27:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sjne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@sjne](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sjne)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-client-verification-require-host-based-certificates/230243/1 "2020-04-28T19:27:38Z")

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When using `ssl_verify_mode: force_peer` for client verification with Filebeat, does the client certificate need to be issued to the specific host name/IP? I.e the CN is the host name of the node.

For example can I use (in a test/dev environment) one self-signed certificate for all of my four Filebeat nodes for client verification with a Logstash instance? Or do the certificates need to be issued to each node separately (CN = host1; CN = host2 etc)? I tried looking for an answer in the docs but could find any, sorry. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-client-verification-require-host-based-certificates/230243/2 "2020-04-28T22:18:20Z")

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That came up recently [here](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-beat-force-peer-authentication-doesnt-check-hostname-info/229683). The name in the client certificiate is not checked.

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**Author:** ![Luca\_Belluccini](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/luca_belluccini/32/33239_2.png) [@Luca\_Belluccini](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Luca_Belluccini)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-client-verification-require-host-based-certificates/230243/3 "2020-04-28T22:47:53Z")

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We also try to make sure this ends up in the documentation: [https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-input-beats/issues/317](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-input-beats/issues/317)

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-client-verification-require-host-based-certificates/230243/4 "2020-05-26T22:58:46Z")

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